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From November 2 through 21, our label and the people managing us put our band on this promotional tour for some new energy drink called Upshot. We didn't really find out what we were getting into until we got there; the whole thing was pretty odd.
The concept of the tour was that a big FedEx truck redone with a new Upshot paint job, big windows, and a PA system inside would drive from Austin to NYC, stopping at planned locations, and unsuspecting passers-by would be drawn in by the loud music played by the band inside. The big problem was that a lot of the stops ended up not being planned out very well.
For one of the stops, we had to play at 7:00 a.m. the day the Nintendo Wii came out in New York. We knew it was a bad idea, but didn't have much say about it, seeing as how we weren't the brains behind the corporate gimmick, just the hired help.
The van drove up to a line of people waiting in the cold, and we started playing to what soon felt like an angry mob. People literally opened the back doors of the truck and threatened us. Children were crying, mothers were yelling, and a couple impotent middle-aged men were pounding their chests. You can't really hold it against them, I guess. Most people just aren't ready to rock that early in the morning.
For the record, a few of the stops went pretty well for us, and we did squeeze in some normal venue-type shows on the tour. One thing I've learned, however, is to avoid corporate gimmicks. It's tricky with how the music industry is now, though. Major corporations are involved with pretty much all the big music festivals and tours, and it's commonplace now to hear indie music on commercials and TV shows.
– Drew Robinson, vocals/guitar/keyboards, Four Fifty One
To find out more about / listen to Four Fifty One, check out www.fourfiftyoneband.com, www.mophonics.com, and www.myspace.com/fourfiftyone
Got a good gig story to share? Tell it here.
Posted December 2006
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